The lachrymose tragedy of the apocalyptic Luddit
by snowyhamburger
Summary: Just a normal day in Konoha, that is, until the nuke went off... And so began the battle which would rewrite the Konoha shinobi history, the history of Konoha, and what lies in its heart...
1. Chapter 1

"Dammit! Why isn't it working!" yelled a clearly frustrated Naruto.

Kiba was looking down at Naruto with wide eyes. Sasuke, for his part, was up on his own feet, but Naruto noticed his arms were still crossed over his chest. Naruto could almost feel a faint shiver of anticipation in Sasuke's face. Naruto couldn't remember ever seeing his friend this way before. He was a strange one.

Kiba had his eyes fixed on Naruto. He didn't look away.

Suddenly, Kiba was gone. With a flash of light, a figure in a white mask appeared on the roof of a building The figure had a very dark-haired figure with the same dark-haired eyes.

When Kiba vanished, everyone in the city felt something was very wrong. It wasn't a a second ago that Kiba had dissapeared, on the roof. There had been a loud thump, followed by a large explosion which sent Naruto soaring through.

Naruto painfully looked up, the ground was still shaking under him, something had gone wrong but everything was covered in smoke.

As the smoke dissapated, Naruto could see that there were other bodies lying there, all injured.

There was no-one left alive except for Naruto.

Struggling to het up, he saw a large crater, a large, massive crater. He could barely see the entirety it. He looked behind. There was another group of people gathered around it, he could see the shape of the group, they had some equipment, weapons, masks. There was another massive crater around it, a larger crater with a group of people.

Naruto turned, and looked around. The villagers were still there, but they were moving, making more sounds.

It was like they were trying to figure out the source of the explosions, but it was a mystery to him, and he wanted to know more.

Naruto turned on his heel. He saw yet again another crater. A smaller one this time. And he looked back to see what was right in front of him. A giant cloud in the sky, like a giant mushroom, and Naruto saw a group of people, looking at him from below, the masks were glowing. They made a sign with their hands at him from above, they moved on. The giant crater disappeared under the sun and he started to run. His feet were numb, his feet hurt.

Naruto didn't know what to do but he ran. He was too injuried for this!

He was running like crazy...

Naruto stopped and looked around, he didn't see anything but smoke. He saw something through the smoke, something. He was running on his hands and knees, he couldn't keep up.

At some points it sounded strange... It was like someone was talking, he saw the face with the mask and the voice in the smoke...

It sounded like Sasuke.


	2. Chapter 2

"Sasuke!" yelled Naruto.

Sasuke was with a female ninja with red hair. She was a pretty girl of some age at around her teens, she wore a black skirt with a pair of boots, and she was wielding her own sword. She wasn't tall, and she was a bit shorter than Naruto.

"Sasuke, what the fuck is going on?" asked Naruto.

"Well, the Hokage is out of town, and we've been trying to reach him for a while now. He told me, that he's going to need to send his own men on the field to check on the village, and they're not sure if it's an ambush or not. So he's called the Genin team back. This is the team Naruto, I'm sure of it." said Sasuke.

"Why is she... She's the entire team?" asked Naruto.

"My name is Kiaka. I'm a Genin. I have special mission, and I need to get to the Hokage. I have to bring in the shinobi in order to find the responsible."

"The responsible?" asked Naruto, surprised. He hadn't even seen her in person before.

"That's right. The Hokage told us to wait for him and tell him everything about the Fourth's return."

"The Fourth is alive?"

"Yes," answered Kaika. "But he's not like before. You see..."

"He's changed," completed Sasuke.

Kaika shaked her head, a hint of satisfaction in her voice. "I've read about him since I was young. And it must have been because he couldn't be as good as he wanted. He's had a good childhood. I guess I should've known..."

"What are you talking about?" asked angrely Narutp.

"The Fourth, he used to be good to us. But he didn't want to be our father. He just wanted to be a hero. Like all heroes, he wanted you to follow him, to do his bidding. You would obey him. Like a little son. But he couldn't be a hero for you. He could never be your father. I guess he always was. We were kids to him. He loved us. We loved him. But he wouldn't understand."

"Then what was..." Naruto trailed off.

"The explosion, the man in the glowing mask, that's the Fourth," said Kaika. "He's our enemy... But he hasn't changed one jot. You know we're not going to kill him, but we're not going to let him off the hook. We can't let him win. If we try anything rash, his minions will swoop into the city and kill us." explained Kaika.

"Naruto," said Sasuke. "I know this is really confusing, I'm a bit confused too to be honest with you, but right now, we have to move. Fast. If we're spotted, it's all over."

Kaika nodded. "Yes, I can explain everything in details. I have an hideout far from the village. But we need to be discreet."

Naruto smiled. "I agree. I understand your point, but we have to know how to get there, so that if we lose sight of you, we could still regroup at your hideout. It would be so much easier if we were not being searched for, but I think you two are not thinking outside the box. No need to hide anymore, it would be too dangerous."

Kaika raised a finger. "Wait, what are you planning to..."

"**Kage-Bunshi!**"


	3. Chapter 3

"What are you doing?! You want us to get spotted?" Yelled Kaika.

"Yes, that's my goal. If they are searching for us, then they are going to notice us right away. But if I make a bunch of clones, they'll just end up chasing all over the village."

"Heh, I guess even a loser like you can have brillant ideas sometimes," said Sasuke.

Kaika was impressed. Not only this ninja had thought of a solution and kept his head cold in an emergency, he was also capable of making more than 20 clones at once.

"Alright, we need to get moving towards the hideout if we are to escape Konoha alive," said Kaika.

"I understand," said Naruto. "But the only way out of the the village is through the wall. This will be difficult, so we should try and stay low, and keep our eyes open for any signs of the enemy."

The village was under siege by the enemy, and yet, Konoha's brave ninjas were rushing into the village.

The ninjas were in high spirits, and were shouting, "For Konoha!"

They had taken up the battle, yet they were no match for the mysterious masks wielders.

"We are going straight for the gate!" yelled Kaika.

They took off, and the enemy ninjas started firing jutsus at them.

Naruto started to move. He felt the heat of the fire from the jutsu, and he felt the burning, like the pain came from inside his face itself. He felt his entire head starting to burn, and Naruto tried to escape out of the way. His skin was burning from the heat, and it just kept burning until the pain from the jutsu started to fade.

He felt the pain, but when he looked closely, it was gone, just a genjutsu. He could feel it, but not live it.

Naruto was running for his life, he could barely speak now. Sasuke looked unaffected, probably his Sharingan, but Kaika was running ahead, and he couldn't see her face.

He was pretty certain he heard her yelp out in pain though...

No time to think. He didn't want to say anything, as he would probably be caught. But he was running, and he wanted to see if she was alright, and he couldn't let her out of his sight any time soon.

"Kaika!" he heard the voice, his hand instinctively moving over to grab a rope that Sasuke threw. Sasuke was coming, running toward the wall and then up rempart, and when he reached the top he saw Naruto, standing with one hand around Kaika's waist, and the other, clutching the rope over his head.

"You... you really didn't need to do that... I know how to climb a rope you know?"

"No time to talk, climb!" said Sasuke.

Once up the wall, Naruto looked over his shoulder, trying to spot who was coming after them, but he only saw Sasuke and Kaika, looking a bit flustered.

The village was in ruins, there were still signs of combats, but Naruto didn't feel as if he still had all his Chakra. That meant most of his clones were still running, wasting the enemy's time, buying them the chance to escape. Huge collumns of smoke were rising from the ruins.

"Get down!" yelled Kaika at Naruto and Sasuke. "He nearly spotted us," said Naruto.

Naruto turned to see that the sun had already peaked, and the sky was completely covered in shadow. The sun had already gone down and then had just returned at the Zenith, when he spotted the man in the glowing mask, floating in the air. He noticed the person was wearing a large, dark gray robe. The person moved forward and his gaze seemed focused on something behind them, and as it moved towards him, it caught his eye, the man had the same yellow hair as him.

Naruto's heart was pounding as he stared at the Fourth moving closer. It seemed like they were not moving to attack Sasuke or him when the boy started to get agitated. "What is it with those guys?".

The Fourth stopped in his tracks. He was still far away, floating in the sky, but it looked like there was something wrong with the Fourth's body. The Fourth stopped what he was doing and noticed the group looking up at him. Naruto's eyes grew wide as he noticed where the Fourth's eyes were looking.

"We cannot fight, Sasuke. It is too dangerous. We cannot get in his way." Naruto said. In response to Naruto he moved his left hand up towards Naruto.

"No it is not. We are going to stop the Fourth. We will stop him, and kill him" Sasuke said in a loud voice. The Fourth, however, was just looking at Naruto.

"You are wrong. I am not going to hurt you." the Fourth said to Naruto. They all looked up at the Fourth and he was looking away from them. They all felt something in their chest that they couldn't explain for it was fear. Fear that they had just met and fought for their lives. Naruto looked at his right hand, he was trembling.

After a moment he turned and said in a whisper, "I want to speak to them. I want to say something, anything, just tell me." The Fourth stopped what he was doing and turned back towards Naruto.

Sasuke then looked back and forth between the two. The Fourth just kept looking at Naruto not an hint of emotion, or even humanity. The Fourth was still far, but the voice seemed to be just beside them. Everything seemed so wrong and confusing. But Sasuke didn't have time to think. Suddenly the Fourth got a huge shock. Before he saw what was happening, he was dragged away by Naruto, deep into the forest.

The Fourth looked up at the Sun and said in a quiet voice, "Do not move, or you will die."

Waiting, as if he was listening to something only he could hear,the Fourth stayed motionless.

"It is true that, I have not yet given my orders, but in the future I will send the same message."

Again, silence.

And finally, "Do not do such foolish deeds, because in the next ten years, the Manus will end all, unless _he_ brings my end first..."


	4. Chapter 4

It was hours later that Naruto, Sasuke and Kaika finally arrived at the hideout. A lot had been going on there for the past hour, and Sasuke had finally decided that they should leave. Sasuke had been planning on heading back to the village as soon as possible after the conversation, but the situation was getting complicated by the way Kaika was behaving, so they wanted to wait and see what she was going to do.

"I will take care of you two, but that doesn't mean you have to follow my orders. We're all going into battle with you here to protect Konoha from those who would harm us or try to use the Kyuubi in their own way."

Kaika shook her head before turning away. She wasn't even sure what to say, where to begin. When Naruto and Sasuke entered the compound, the redhair looked up with a grin. "We'll will be waiting there for a while. I'm sure the Hokage can handle this one."

"What are we doing there?" Sasuke asked as he stood beside the redhair.

"It's not so bad, you know; I've been watching your friends in your little village for a while now. They're all fine and dandy, you and Kyuubi, and then there's me."

"Listen," said Naruto in a stern voice. "I really want to know what's going on. So drop the friendly act and start talking."

Kaika was surprised by the aggressivness in the boy's voice. "Alright, alright. Here's what's going on..."

And Kaika explained to the two young ninjas the situation. The Fourth was back, some people said he was changed. Others like her and the Hokage were claiming he didn't really change, it was more like he dropped his act.

She went on about how the Fourth was after power, recognition, always pushing his limits farther and farther. Always learning new ninja lore, always fighting, slowly climbing the ranks until he reached the level of Hokage.

"That reminds me of someone I know..." smirked Sasuke.

"Hey! I might want to be Hokage, but that doesn't mean I'm ready to kill for it."

"Um, well, anyway," continued Kaika, explaining that the Fourth had his own group of followers, also wearing masks, wearing purple robes and generally being up to no good.

"I noticed something, the Fourth seemed, not in control of himself..." started Sasuke.

"Yeah, he might be under a genjutsu, as ambitious as he was... is... I doubt he'd go as far as attack Konoha." said Kaika.

"What was happening back there? I can understand the Fourth attacking, the explosion could be a powerful grouped jutsu, but what about the sun?" asked Sasuke.

"Well, the Fourth was really skilled in teleportation jutsu. But it seems he was also conducting research with time."

"Time manipulation jutsu? Impossible" muttered Sasuke.

"And yet, here we are..." concluded Kaika.

There was silence for a while. Then There was silence for a while. Then Kaika sat up. Naruto and Sasuke were deep in reflection in the hideout. Inside was an impressive display of wooden furniture, from the kitchen to the living room. There were even piles of books, scrolls and loose papers. A small fire was burning in the corner, providing a bit of warm and moving lighting to the living room.

"I'm going to take a bath" said Kaika. She stood up, and then walked across the living room to Naruto, who followed in her wake. "Oh, thank god! I'll need to go into the bathroom."

"Umm, you want to go first?" asked Kaika.

"Why do you say that?" asked Natuto.

"I mean it's like, when I think about it, I'd rather just wait. I'm sure you'll be just fine" replied Kaika with an apologetic smile before heading back in the living room where Sasuke was.

Kaika opened the door. She turned to the side, and looked over to see Sasuke sitting on the floor with his head leaning on his hands. He looked so calm, like he knew what he was doing. He'd been sitting there waiting for her; she hadn't noticed. She stood up, and walked over to the door. She took a deep breath, and walked through the door to sit down at the kitchen table. She looked up to see Sasuke standing up on the other end of the table. "What are you doing?" asked Sasuke.

"Just getting myself ready for dinner," replied Kaika. She stood up, and took off her shoes and sat down at the table, next to Sasuke, and they both looked at each other with a look of confusion.

The two sat there for a while before the two ate. In the kitchen that night, Kaika got the plate out of the oven and took out a small pot. She poured some broth over the potatoes, and set it over the noodles, then placed it on top of the noodles. Then she started to cook the noodles; they weren't too thick, but it made the noodles taste better; she was very careful to not get them too tender. The broth was boiling when they started eating, and she had to be careful not to over cook them, as they would start to brown, and not get very thick.

They ate and talked, Sasuke talking more and less frequently, and Kaika talking more and more often. It was starting to look like it had been an hour since they had eaten.

When Naruto was done, it was Sasuke's turn to take a bath and relax, Kaika politly refusing her turn. Sasuke took a shower. AAs Sasuke left the shower, it was Kaika's turn to take a bath.

"Why don't you go get cleaned," Sasuke asked Kaika as he watched her go to the bathroom.

"That's what I'm going to do," said Kaika, sounding a bit confused, as she headed to the bathroom. Sasuke smiled as he looked in there, she had her hands out, she had her pants on. Sasuke grinned at the sight and watched as she pulled them down, but she was still wearing her bra and panties, as soon as Sasuke got the idea he looked over at her. She still had her hands out but now she was looking at the mirror, he just smiled.

Sasuke smirked and he watched as she slowly slid out of her panties. He noticed her breasts and he thought she was pretty small for her age.

Naruto was already sleeping. Sasuke waited until she finished, her body was hot from the shower. A faint smell of shampoo was present, but it was a faint smell that was only there at a very very low level. She walked to the bathroom. Her slender teenage body was hot with sweat running down her body and her small butt was covered by a tight towel, and the rest covered by what she was sure was a pair of tight white cotton slippers. He had to admit it… she was pretty sexy.

"Oh... hey," she said as she stepped out the bathroom. "You're still up?" Sasuke gave her his best smile. Her soft voice was just as beautiful as before, and he could tell she was still a very naive girl.

"I am," simply answered Sasuke, still focusing intensly on her. "And you?"

"Y-yes. I'm fine, I'm going to get ready. I'm glad you're here. You know, But I think we should probably go sleep." She said this with a very umcomfortable, but not very angry tone that only made him more comfortable. "I know..." he said. "Did you have fun?" he asked her, "You should if you're going to be a girl... You're not even that young," he continued.

She laughed, which was the most adorable thing he could have imagined. "And that towel too is too tight... that's ridiculous..." he whispered.

"It's fine. It'll loosen up once I sleep." she laughed, and that was almost too cute for words. "Sasuke... I have to go sleep now. I'm not going to leave the house. I'm going to need your help." He didn't get what she was talking about, but the fact that she felt so comfortable in front of him was so nice.

"You have no idea what I'm capable of." he said.

"So do you."

"I have a brother," he began, as she walked out of the bathroom. She walked to the window and looked up at the sky. The sun was setting and Sasuke was feeling pretty tired all of a sudden.

"His... name... is... Itachi..."

Kaika waited for a bit, making sure Sasuke was really asleep. He didn't see her make her genjustu while looking at the window.

"What a pervert," she whispered to herself, as she walked to her bedroom, and locked the door. Twice.


End file.
